"Is this your negotiating attitude?" Zeng Liang suddenly waved his sleeves and stood up, furious, "I want one hundred thousand taels for asking, what a big appetite! I, the great emperor, are not so depressed, and I can let you push your limits. !”
Lian Chongwen was still stunned. Zeng Shangshu suddenly turned his face to Ye Yongjia: "Ye Bingbu! You came to me to plead for this matter. Do you know how to write the word dignity!"
Ye Yongjia lowered his head and was silent, using only Lian Chongwen in his peripheral vision, waiting for his reply. How could Lian Chongwen hold himself back? He grasped the armrest of the armchair tightly with one hand and said with a glare: "Zeng Shangshu, this matter is obviously a big mistake you have made. Why do you dare to be so confident? If you don't agree, then I will Now I will burn my credentials and return to Nanyang to resume my life!"
Ye Yongjia also advised from the side: "Master Zeng, the terms of compensation should be discussed easily, and there is no need to be so impatient..."
"Tinglong, you still have to speak for foreigners, it's so shameful!" Zeng Liang became even more irritable, with a few veins appearing on his face, "Let me tell you, my household department will never allocate a cent to humiliate the country. ! If you want to go back to the country, go back to the country. At worst, there will be a big war, so that you will know the power of the Celestial Empire!" After saying that, he stopped arguing with the two of them, left the table immediately, and opened the rolled up bamboo curtain. I came down, listened to the "crash" sound, and went back to the back room.
The current situation was still within Ye Yongjia's expectation. He leaned back and looked at Lian Chongwen's pale face and dull eyes. His hands were just rubbing back and forth, and he secretly said with joy: "It seems that this person is also uncertain." Seeing him, he didn't dare to break the contract and return home. In this way, you may still be able to persuade. '
"Envoy Lian... you must not go back like this..." Ye Yongjia looked regretful.
It seemed like he was begging, but asking him to respond to such a pointed question on the spot was undoubtedly forcing him to take a stand.
"Is this..." Lian Chongwen was speechless for a moment, and began to hesitate in his heart: "I think that Zeng Liang is determined. I'm afraid he really doesn't want to pay compensation and would rather pay the price of war." It seems that my threatening tactics are useless... If I try to show off my strength at this time, I will only cause myself great disaster. Ye Yongjia strongly agreed with me, and he was trying his best to persuade me just now. It would be better to stabilize him first to avoid losing ground. '
So he sighed to Ye Yongjia: "To be honest with you, I definitely can't go back like this. After all, I came here under the order of the country's leader, and it is my duty to negotiate. If the negotiation breaks down and brings war to the country, then I will definitely I will be held accountable. But I cannot give up the compensation of 100,000 taels of silver for the sake of negotiation. Doing so will not meet the country's requirements, and I will still become a prisoner."
Ye Yongjia rubbed his eyebrows: "It seems that it is not easy for everyone... I wonder if the compensation can be lowered? If you agree, I can find ways to turn this matter around."
"As long as I still have the right to pay compensation, I will probably be safe from disaster. After all, how many taels do you want, sir?"
Ye Yongjia stretched out three fingers: "Thirty thousand taels, how about that?"
Lian Chongwen nodded reluctantly: "I can accept it. But if the Ministry of Revenue does not agree, there is nothing you can do."
"There are many ways," Ye Yongjia waved his hand disapprovingly, "If the Ministry of Revenue does not agree, you can pressure him through the Ministry of Public Affairs. After Ye reports the news to Prime Minister Liu, he will summon me to discuss it in the capital hall, and then we will reach an agreement. , then issued an explicit order, and the Department of Accounting and Accounting did not dare to disobey it. Once the matter is completed, you can go to the main hall to present your credentials."
"Certificate of Credence?" Lian Chongwen asked an abrupt question, and then nodded a few times, "Oh, oh..."
"What? Didn't you ask for the credentials from the beginning?" Ye Yongjia asked coldly, trying to make this sentence sound less like a follow-up question.
"Yes, there are still some clauses in it. We will discuss it in the future. We will discuss it in the future!" Lian Chongwen suddenly frowned and smiled, looking very strange.
Ye Yongjia knew what he meant, so he no longer pursued it in detail, and just said: "After I have talked about it like this, my heart will feel much more relaxed. Okay, everything is over, you and I have no worries, and we can go back with peace of mind. Please understand that it is inconvenient for Ye to provide accommodation for the envoy.”
Lian Chongwen stood up and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I have a lot of travel expenses. It's not difficult to find a hotel in the city. It doesn't matter if I'm a bit tired and tired these days. I just hope that you can help me!"
The two of them bowed to each other, said goodbye, and walked out of the Hubu Yamen.
"Are you really planning to report to Liu Zhennian?" Cai Xianqing pushed out the chair and looked at Ye Yongjia doubtfully.
"Yes." He brushed the back of his chair and answered briefly.
"Tinglong is really confused!" Cai Xianqing patted the dust on his hands and sighed, "As long as the negotiation can be done successfully, then the position of the Ministry of Education is determined by you. If you do this, success or failure will depend on Liu. Doesn't this ruling make it appear that you are just following orders and doing nothing? Now none of the provincial ministers are competing with you. They believe in your talents and are afraid that they will not be able to compete with you. But once this happens, the people who enter the Zhongshu Provincial Department will be in suspense. , it would be a wonder if it didn’t turn into a bloody situation at that time!"
"I can wait for the emperor's clear edict to allow me to exercise my power." Ye Yongjia was not happy to hear such a question and replied coldly, "But I forced Zeng Liang's head and forced him to admit the three What will be the consequences of ten thousand taels? If he doesn’t eat me alive with his evil energy, it won’t be over at all! Taking such a risk, it’s better to listen to Liu Zhennian’s wishes. He is the prime minister, and he obeys every order. How much trouble it saves.”
Cai Xianqing said: "He who does great things does not hesitate to sacrifice his life. What are you like? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You just let it go. You don't want the position of provincial minister?"
"Provincial Minister," Ye Yongjia snorted and looked at him steadily, "They are just slaves commanded by the Liu Party. We are the same wherever we are."
Cai Xianqing looked at his cold face, smiled bitterly, smacked his mouth, and joked: "You are really weird, you are so cruel every time you speak, and you talk about worldly affairs more and more clearly, as if you have understood the truth." Average. But why can't you be ruthless when doing things?"
Ye Yongjia knew that he had given up persuading him, but instead ignored the joke and replied with a smile: "If it were me back then, how could I be afraid of Zeng Liang? He is nothing more than a few civil servants who are talking nonsense. It's just impeachment. But in recent years, the world has been unfair, and you know what happened. How can I still have the sinister and aloof spirit of the past!"
"Well, it's probably because some of you younger generations are thinking about miscellaneous things, so they are timid. My ambition has been the same for sixty years!" Cai Xianqing laughed while stroking his beard.
"You are so confident that you must have guessed eight percent of the content of the letter of credence."
Cai Xianqing slapped her chest: "Of course! I'm just going to tell you in detail!"
